A Dragon's Test
by Scroll-2
Summary: Continuation for Return of the Dragons (Which you must read first!) Haven't you ever been curious as to why none of the dragon slayers were able to stop any of the dragons at the Grand Magic Games? Well, now that they've got some to ask, they do, and don't get the answer they're expecting. And how on earth are the fairies involved?
1. Scroll-1

**Hi everyone! This is here to continue the story from Return of the Dragons (Hint: you need to read this one first!) It starts a little slow, but I hope you enjoy!**

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It was just like any other morning in the guild of Fairy Tail. A few tables were either on the wrong side of the building or flipped over. Various members were scattered around the hall, having been too drunk to walk themselves home the night before. Considering that it was now almost 10 o' clock, it was time to wake them up and get them out. And so, Mirajane, Grandine, and Erza went around doing just that.

"Elfman, it's time to get up." The snow-haired bartender lightly shook her younger brother, who had gotten knocked out in one of the previous fights. He grumbled something that almost sounded like 'five more minutes' before rolling onto his other side.

"Elf-nii, don't make Nee-san mad." Lisanna warned from her stool at the bar where she was drinking a chocolate milkshake. She had decided it would be better to watch the three women wake up the other guild members from a safe distance away. It was a good decision on her part to, because Elfman didn't even need her warning to feel the sinister aura coming off of his older sister. In moments he was on his feet and working to help move table and chairs back to their original places, not that they would stay there if another fight started.

Mirajane simply gave him a sweet smile, completely masquerading over the demon that was his motivator. "Thank you, Elfman." She walked lightly over to the next drunkard, letting her brother continue cleaning.

By that time, Erza had already managed to get three people awake and they were either walking home or resetting furniture. "I want this place spotless!" Her voice shook another couple of members awake, causing them to also assist in the cleaning. And then there was the last one, Grandine.

Not only was she angry because several of the male members, who had been too drunk to remember who she was, had been just a _little_ too friendly last night, but also because she didn't get a wink of sleep. Since Mirajane had been tending the bar, it was Grandine's job to make sure that none of the drunks choked on their own vomit while they were passed out. Even though she knew that she wouldn't get any sleep when she accepted the job, she was still cranky. The two people, whose table she had walked over to wake them up, would regret that fact.

"Igneel! Metalicana! Wake the hell up!" Grabbing tangles of orange and gray, one with each hand, she slammed their heads together with a satisfying CRACK. Their reaction wasn't something the pink-haired dragon expected. They just mumbled, replacing their foreheads on the wooden table while sloppily moving their arms to try and cover the spot that got rammed into the other dragon. "I said: Wake up!" She yelled while smacking her palms down on the table, causing glasses to shake and a few cracks to appear in the wood. Okay, now they woke up.

"Geez, don't be so loud. What time is it?" The fire dragon asked, slightly slurring his words together as he raised his head and back so that he was almost sitting all the way up, facing the pink-haired woman who was causing all the racket. Metalicana didn't even bother responding and just kept his head down on the table, trying to recover from a hangover he got from his drinking contest he had with Igneel the night before. It was a new thing for him because dragons didn't feel the effects that alcohol had on humans, so they neither drank nor got hangovers. But now that they were humans, they did. Since the two of them had been drinking long into the night, no one paid attention to who drank the most, so a winner remained undesignated. However, that wasn't the primary concern at the moment.

"It's 10 o'clock in the morning. You two have been here all night, so now you have to help clean." Grandine hissed at the dragons who were suffering hangovers. "Both of your sons are out on jobs right now, not being lazy bums like you two." She smacked the side of Metalicana's head, making sure he was paying attention. "Now _get up_." Even though she had quite a bit of anger in her voice, the iron and fire dragons didn't move.

"It's not our fault we can't go out on jobs. A, we're not members of the guild, B, we barely have any magic because we haven't been in this world as long as you, and C, the sad excuse for a doornail sitting next to me is still recovering from being in prison. It's only been, what? A few days since we got back?" Despite the pounding in his head, Igneel was able to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why they had just been hanging around Fairy Tail. Unfortunately, it was true, they really couldn't go on any jobs, but Grandine had a solution for that.

"Well then, go get a regular job in the town or something." The pink-haired dragon didn't look like she was angry at the other two anymore. "Magnolia's pretty big. I'm sure that someone needs hired help somewhere." After a few moments passed with no response, she became slightly irritated. "Okay, now you actually do have to get up so I can at least clean the table." The fire dragon nodded and shoved his drinking partner off the edge of the wooden bench, causing him to land on the floor with a solid _thump_.

Igneel nearly fell on his face when he tried to stand up, but he managed to get steady himself before he moved over to Metalicana, who was snoring lightly._ 'How in Earthland is he still asleep? I mean, I knew he was a heavy sleeper, but really?'_ The orange-haired dragon simply shook his head and bent down to grab on of Metalicana's arms. He then began to drag the iron dragon to the other side of the hall, away from the woman who interrupted their sleep. "Man! Were you always this heavy?" Igneel gasped when he realized he couldn't pull his friend more than a few inches._ 'No, of course not. You used to be an adult dragon, weighing several tons.'_ He thought to himself bitterly.

Luckily for him, right at that moment, Gajeel, Levy, and the rest of Team Shadow Gear, came in to the guild hall. "Hey, Gajeel!" He called, grabbing the iron dragon slayer's attention. "He's your problem now!" Before he could be caught, the fire dragon made his way out the door faster than a criminal making a break for it. He knew he shouldn't have forced his iron eating friend onto his son, but he _really_ didn't want to deal with Metalicana when he woke up and realized he had a headache.

"Ah! How nice the fresh air feels!" Igneel exclaimed as he stretched his arms over his head. He'd been to a lot of places, but he decided that Magnolia was definitely one of the best, with friendly people and clean air to breath. He let out a sigh. _'Why did you have to be right, Grandine?'_ He knew that the two of them shouldn't be just hanging around Fairy Tail, but he didn't know what else they could do. It was hard enough convincing the dragon slayers that they wouldn't disappear while they were out on jobs. And to tell the truth, they had tried to get jobs in the town, but they didn't last very long, mostly because the dragons had never done jobs before. Metalicana ate all the visible metal and Igneel ended up burning something, without even using fire!

Not to mention the crazy 'dragon enthusiasts' who kept trying to talk to them. Igneel swore that he was going to punch the next one that asked him to show them some of his magic. Usually people stayed away from dragons, but now that it was common knowledge that they had been turned into humans and were at the guild Fairy Tail, they wouldn't be left alone ever again. _'I just hope this day doesn't get any worse.'_ He thought to himself, shortly before running his head into the light post that was there to do just that, make it worse.

"Aw, dangit!" Igneel yelled softly, bringing his hand to his nose to make sure it wasn't bleeding, sniffing a few times. It was then that he smelled something that he recognized. _'Natsu and his friends are back.'_ He started walking toward the origin of familiar aromas.

He caught sight of them when he turned the corner in front of Fairy Tail. Even though he was far away, he was able to catch snippets of their conversation. "I can't believe we had to give back over half the reward money because of damages!"

"It was Natsu's fault for burning that library."

"But that was the only way to keep the guy from escaping! And at least I actually did something, unlike you, Stripper!"

"I was busy making sure the rest of the town didn't go up in flames, you pyro!"

"Be quiet all of you! Natsu, Grey, you're going to come with me to explain what happened to the Master. Do you understand?"

"Hey look! It's Igneel!" Happy yelled, interrupting the conversation that was going on between his teammates. The cat and his corresponding dragon slayer ran forward to meet the other fire eater and, partially, to escape a certain armor mage.

"So, how was the job?" Despite having heard part of the conversation and being able to figure out most of what happened, Igneel wanted to hear Natsu tell his story.

"Well, first, the order was to catch a guy who had been robbing banks, so when we got there-Ow!" Erza had the hair on the back of his head locked in a death-grip and had begun dragging him towards the building.

"I told you. You, Grey, and myself are going to explain to the Master what happened before he learns it through someone else. You can tell your father afterwards." Natsu stretched out pleading arms as he was forced into the building where punishment was waiting for him. The fire dragon just shrugged and followed them in, sitting down at the bar while the three of them went to the Master's office.

Igneel sighed and let his head thump on the table. His hangover finally caught up to him. Or was it a new headache from running his head into a pole? It didn't really matter, all he knew was that his head hurt. There was a sudden flash of heat behind him, but it didn't have any malice in it, so he didn't bother turning around. A squeaky voice let out. "Igneel-sama! I'm bored!" Just great. Another headache to deal with.

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**Aw, poor them. I guess it's hard to adjust to being human after being a dragon for so long. Oh well! Read and Review!**


	2. Scroll-2

**Hi everyone! Sorry for not getting to update sooner (I'm pretty certain that school is one of the most time-consuming things ever) Oh well! Here is Ch2!**

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"You're here in Fairy Tail, so why don't you just do what they do? Go start a fight if you're bored." Igneel answered his little fairy, not even bothering to turn his head, which was still plunked down on the table, around. His headache caused him to not even think about the consequences of telling Flam that.

She huffed lightly as she crossed her small arms. "Fine! I will!" A few second of silence passed over. "Hey! Natsu!" Igneel could hear the fluttering of her wings as she flew over to the fire eater with pink hair. He and his stripping teammate had come out of the Master's office with looks of relief on their faces, glad that they had escaped the chopping block.

The fire dragon groaned inwardly. _'She can't be serious.'_ He slowly brought his shoulders and head off of the bar before sliding off of the stool, following the little fairy. _'If they fight...'_ There weren't any good ways to end that thought, so he didn't even bother. When Flam first started talking to him, Natsu seemed a little surprised.

"Natsu, do you think you're pretty strong?" In the most adorable voice ever heard, the little fairy asked her question while floating in front of the dragon slayer's face. At first, Natsu was a little puzzled as he cupped his chin with his hand to think.

"I guess so. I mean, when Gajeel and I fought against Sting and Rogue we won." His voice trailed down slightly. "Besides, I just need to be strong enough to protect my friends." He finished off by showing his signature grin to Flam, who nodded in understanding. Then she showed a grin of her own, but there was the smallest bit of mischievousness in it.

"How about we have a little contest? Your dragon slayer magic against my fairy magic. They're both fire type." The sweet little fairy inquired, while looking like she would never be able to take on the famous Salamander from Fairy Tail. A few of the bystanders closed in, wanting to hear more of the conversation. Igneel shot Natsu a look, warning him to not accept the challenge. Unfortunately, Natsu either didn't see the expression, or didn't understand what it meant, and just grinned at the fairy.

"Sure!" Flam nodded and smiled in response, then looked around the guild hall.

"We should probably move some where outside though. I don't want to cause any unnecessary damage to Fairy Tail." She fluttered her wings as she flew toward the large wooden doors that were the entrance to the guild. Natsu followed her, along with several other guild members, which included the dragons and Cana, who was already taking bets on who was going to win.

It was decided that the group should go as far away as Fairy Hills so that no citizens of the town would get injured if the magic got out of hand. As they walked up the hill, Metalicana leaned his head close enough to Igneel so that he could ask his question without being heard by anyone else. "You do realize that he's gonna get his ass handed to him, right?" The iron dragon whispered to his orange-haired companion who just sighed.

"This is a good spot. I use it for testing new armor." Erza had led them to an area of Fairy Hills that was far enough from the building so that it wouldn't be damaged, but close enough so that they could get back quickly if anyone was hurt. It was an open field with short cut grass and only a few trees scattered around. The spectators gathered together near the largest tree while the participants stood 15 feet away from each other. Well, one was standing, the other was floating in the air.

A sudden flash of scarlet flames around Flam covered her as she metamorphosed into her larger, adult form, shocking the guild members who'd never seen it. Though her large wings beat steadily, she remained on the soft ground while a warm smile lay on her lips. Natsu, realizing that she was going to fight seriously and remembered what happened to her last opponent, got into a defensive stance and ignited his hands. Igneel's eyes widened slightly in realization. _'Wait a minute, I don't think I've ever seen anyone defeat Flam.'_ He simply closed his eyes and prayed that his son wasn't stupid enough to get himself killed by the fire fairy.

"Are you ready, Natsu?" The winged redhead asked with an amused tone in her voice, as if she had already won the fight. The fire dragon slayer barely had time to nod in response before the fairy begun her attack.

Before any of the spectators saw it, Flam was already behind Natsu and prepared to punch him with a grin on her face. The pinkette got out of the way only milliseconds prior to the fairy released her arm, brushing her knuckles across his face.

Natsu took several steps back before noticing a stinging sensation on his cheek. "Ouch! What the-" Even though her hands had no fire on them, they were hot enough to scorch Natsu's face by barely making contact. _'I have to be careful.'_ He couldn't see it, but he could tell that her magic was powerful, far beyond his own. When he glanced over toward the guild members who were watching the fight, he noticed that some of them were sweating and having trouble breathing from the heat. It took only seconds for the fire fairy to notice as well.

"Here's an idea. Why don't we fight without magic?" Flam's wings slowly dissipated into the air while her hair seemed to grow dim. Faster than anyone could react, she charged at Natsu and when she attacked him, her hand...passed?...through his chest. Now, it's not like she made a hole in his chest with her hand, that would be messy. No, it was more that her hand became no longer solid and simply slipped through.

Natsu doubled over and coughed toward the ground, his eyes wide. He felt cold and hollow, almost shivering from the shock. _'What was that? What did she do?'_ His mind was hazy and his eyes creating double vision weren't helping. He glanced over his shoulder to see what the fairy was holding in her hand.

Flam had a grin on her face when she looked down at the small orb-like ball of flame that was flickering slightly in her hand. Natsu felt a chill race down his spine when he finally figured out what had happened. Most of the time, he was pretty slow at figuring things out, but this was pretty important. The fairy's magma eyes slowly traced down until they met the ones that belonged to the fire dragons slayer. "Fairies gave humans magic. Is it that big a surprise that we can take it away?" The way she spoke indicated that she did not expect an answer.

She turned her head to face the spectators of the fire fight. "Hey, Blondie! Catch!" Barely giving Lucy time to react, Flam tossed the flaming orb to her. The celestial mage had to jump up in order to catch the ball with both hands. When she landed, she opened up her hands so that the rest of the guild members could look over her shoulders and see what was there.

"Is that really all there is to Natsu's magic?" Grey didn't like to admit it, but he thought Natsu was pretty strong in his own right and thought it was odd that all of his magic simply took the form of a little ball of flame. Because everyone was busy asking the question themselves, no one was able to answer him.

_'It's so warm.'_ Lucy thought as the small orb floated in her open hands.

"Hey, Natsu! Are you ready to fight again?" The fire fairy asked the boy who had begun to stand up, still slightly hunched over. Natsu, not really known for being the sharpest knife in the drawer, decided that he was and grinned in response, thinking that he could somehow defeat a fairy without any magic. Sadly, he was wrong.

He did, however, manage to keep the fight going for a few minutes. Well, the 'fight' was pretty much one-sided, Natsu attempting to hit Flam while she either blocked his strikes or, far more often, simply moved out of the way. "C'mon! You're never going to hit me if you're that slow!" The fire fairy, who was clearly starting to become bored, yelled toward the pinkette. It wasn't that Natsu was weak, he'd fought people without using magic before. It was just that Flam was too strong.

_'Alright, I'm gonna hit her with this last punch.'_ Natsu thought to himself as he noticed that he was growing too tired to keep the fight going for long.

The fire fairy just sighed as he charged in, not even having to guess what move he was going to throw. _'Igneel-sama, I would've hoped Natsu was stronger than this. Maybe this is because you two were separated when Natsu was too young? I do not know. Humans are such strange creatures.'_ She lightly jumped into the air, letting the fire dragon slayer run past her, right before she slammed her heel into the back of his head, causing his face to sink into the ground at least three inches. Before she even touched the ground, Flam disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to reappear shortly afterward as the little fairy that was in guild earlier that day.

"Ah, Lucy! You don't have to hold onto that anymore. Here, I'll give it back to Natsu."

With a flick of her wrist, Flam called the little orb to fly past her and disappear into Natsu's back, seconds before Lucy's scream pierced the air. "It burns!" She dropped to her knees and was quickly followed by her friends who were trying to see what was hurting her. Her hands turned scarlet as severe burns appeared on them.

"Here!" Grey, despite being an ice mage, knew a little bit about how to deal with burns. He covered his hands in small ice crystals before laying them on top of Lucy's burned ones in an attempt to prevent any more damage to her skin. The blonde mage sucked air quickly through her teeth from the shock of the cold, but was able to eventually relax a little.

It took only seconds for Wendy to prepare healing magic on her hands. "Grey-san, can you please move out of the way?" It wasn't really a question, but the ice mage nodded his head and removed his ice encrusted hands, revealing Lucy's burned ones. The air dragon slayer brought her hands up to Lucy's to heal them, but nothing happened. "Why isn't it working?" She asked out loud, worried that she wasn't able to help her friend.

"Healing spells don't work on wounds caused by contact with pure magic." Igneel walked around until he was in front of the celestial mage who was still sitting on the ground, kneeling down to be eye-level with her. He was holding white bandages that Grandine had given to him and started talking as he begun to wrap up her hands. "This won't help much, but it should keep them from getting infected." Lucy nodded, noticing that he didn't seem surprised that she was injured from holding the magic.

"Eep!" The fire dragon accidentally pulled the last of the bandages just a little bit too tight around the girl's burned palms. Without even looking up, he reached into his back pocket with his right hand and pulled out a silver case that was slightly bigger than a deck of cards.

From the small case, he pulled out a small stick that looked a lot like charcoal that artists would use to draw a picture. "Here, chew on this." Despite the fact that it didn't look at all like something a normal person would chew on, Lucy trusted Igneel and figured that he was the most experienced when it came to dealing with burns, so she let him place the small piece of charcoal in her mouth. "It will help the burns heal." With that last sentence, he stood up and moved out of the way to allow the other guild members help Lucy stand up.

"We should be heading back. The sun has almost set." The Master said, catching the attention of anyone who had forgotten he was there. Metalicana walked over to Natsu, pulled him up out of the ground, and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, nodding to the old man. Following Erza, the entire group quickly made their way back to Fairy Tail, either silent or trying to help Lucy.

Igneel stopped a few steps from the entrance to the guild, sniffing the air. _'Those two magics don't normally mix, so why am I smelling them in the distance? Oh well, I'll deal with it later.'_ A few seconds passed. _'Wait a minute. Where'd Flam go?_'

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**That's it for now folks! I'm not sure why, but I didn't really like this chapter...hm... I hope you guys did though! Till next time!**

** (If anyone cared, it's the same metal case he brought with him to go fight Goliath. It had ****_I.G._**** on it.)**

**Oh! Now I get it, it's because I didn't mention Happy! Please Read & Review!**


	3. Scroll-3

**Hi everyone! Happy Valentines Day! I hope you enjoy Chapter 3!**

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"Don't worry, Mira. They're pretty much healed now." Lucy told the anxious Take-Over mage. It was true. A few days after the fight between Flam and Natsu, the celestial mage's hands had healed to where they were only a light pink with small, silvery scars around the edges that were barely noticeable. She had told the same line to her fire-eating friend earlier that day to convince him it was alright for him to go out on a job, which is what Erza and Grey had been trying to do. It took quite a bit of convincing.

_'Those charcoal sticks helped a lot. I wonder what they actually are?'_ She thought as she walked toward the entrance to the guild hall. The stars were twinkling and the moon was high in the deep, sapphire sky when she opened to doors to head home for the night. As she carefully walked along the edge of the canal, ignoring the worried words from the fishermen, she remembered the day that Flam fought Natsu. More specifically, when they got back to Fairy Tail.

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Flashback:

"Natsu! Lucy! Grey! Erza! What happened?! Where were you guys?!" Shouted Happy, who took only seconds to fly from where he was sitting on the bar to floating in front of his friends. The azure cat's eyes were wide with worry when they caught sight of his pink-haired friend slung over the iron dragon's shoulder. No one had thought to look around for Happy, mostly because they assumed he was with Natsu or just somewhere in the crowd.

"Don't worry, Happy. Natsu's just asleep and Lucy's hands got a little burned." Igneel's words didn't really help the blue cat relax, but the did enough to stop the flood the questions as Happy flew over to Lucy. A few guild members started whispering to each other, but no one wanted to be the one who asked how Lucy got burned.

Erza's eyes narrowed at the fire dragon's use of the word 'little' to describe Lucy's burns, considering that they were pretty severe. _'Well, I guess they might be little, compared to what he's seen.'_ She thought after remembering who he actually was, the flame dragon king. Thinking of dragons… "Oh, Metalicana, you can just put Natsu on one of the bed's in the infirmary. He'll probably wake up soon." The iron dragon nodded and followed Wendy, who was taking Lucy there to see if she could heal her hands anymore.

Shortly after the small group made their way through the small wooden door at the back of Fairy Tail, the snow-haired barmaid walked over to the armor mage with worry on her face. "Erza, what happened?"

The woman with the scarlet hair let out a sigh. "Unfortunately, I, myself, am not sure. He is the one that I think we should ask." Erza turned toward the fire dragon, whose expression showed that he knew he was going to have to explain what happened. He let out a small sigh.

"If anyone wants to hear more about what happened, follow me." Igneel led those who wished to be informed into the Master's office and closed the door behind them. "Flam seems to have got back to wherever the fairies disappeared to." The fire dragon said to no one in particular.

"So, Igneel…" The iron dragon slayer started. "It looked like Flam pulled the magic right out of Natsu. Care to elaborate on that a little?" His tone wasn't angry, but it was strong enough to indicate that he expected an answer.

The orange-haired dragon leaned up against one of the bookcases and crossed his arms. "Yes, she did pull it out of him. Fairies had magic long before humans did, longer than even the dragons, and have always had the ability to take it away." Mavis, who had apparated into the room at some point, nodded in agreement as Igneel continued. "Technically, she could do that to any kind of mage, but because Natsu uses Fire Dragon Slaying magic, it was much easier." Satisfied, Gajeel doesn't pursue his question any further, which was a good thing, because someone else had another one.

"Igneel-san, what about the burns on Lucy-san's hands?" The small air dragon slayer had sneaked her way into the room without being noticed by anyone who was taller than her, which pretty much left the exceeds. Her brown eyes, full of wonder about what had hurt one of her dear friends, locked with the dragon's magma ones that seemed to be tired years beyond his face.

He chuckled as a small smile crept across his face. "Well, that one's a little harder to explain. Like I said earlier, the flame Lucy was holding was made of pure magic, making any burns created by it impossible to heal with spells. To tell the truth, it was a miracle that she was only burned that much. Usually, when someone tries to hold pure fire magic, they're lucky if they have any arms left." The bitterness in his voice helped anyone who was trying to hold back any laughing.

"Hey, Matchstick." Metalicana stuck his head through the door only seconds after Igneel finished speaking. "Your brat's awake." With a small nod, the fire dragon ended his explanation to go check on how Natsu was doing after having his magic pulled out.

"Why is it so cold in this room?!" The pink-haired dragon slayer wasn't quite on the point of shivering, but he was trying to warm himself by rubbing his arms. The sight was a little unnerving to some of his guild mates, who always thought of Natsu as being _too_ hot. Noticing the strange looks his friends had on their faces, he decided to ask about it. "What's the matter?"

"Don't you think it's a little odd that you're _cold_, Natsu?" Sure, Grey himself hadn't been cold since he was a little kid, but he definitely knew that Natsu, the person who likes to eat fire, shouldn't be. Reading the dumb expression that was the pinkette's response, the ice mage figured that, no, he hadn't thought about it. At all. _Sigh. 'What an idiot.'_

"Don't worry. That should wear off after a little while." Grandine's solemn voice cut through the air in the infirmary. She hadn't been doing much, just leaning against one of the walls with her arms crossed. "There's not really much that can be done about it. You'll just have to wait til your magic resettles itself." She didn't like not being to help her patients, especially when it was one of her closest friend's child.

"With all that energy he's got, it should only take about half a day." Igneel had walked quietly into the room with a smile on his face, happy his son was recovering so quickly. Natsu grinned and waved at his father, seemingly forgetting that he was cold for the time being. The fire dragon chuckled to himself. _'Yep, That's Natsu for you.'_

"Igneel-san," The orange-haired dragon turned to face the small voice that came from behind him. "When do you think Lucy-san's hands will heal?" Everyone in the room except Natsu and Wendy paled in an almost comical way, fearing what would happen if the fire dragon slayer learned that it was his magic that hurt one of his comrades.

Luckily, the fire dragon was able to quickly snap out of it. "Probably in a few days. Sooner if she keeps eating the pieces of charcoal. Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me." Igneel reached into his back pocket and pulled out the small silver case. "She can hold onto this as long as she needs to, okay?" Having understood the 'Go give this to her.' part of the fire dragon's statement, Wendy took the case from him and walked out the door toward the celestial mage.

"Uh? Is Lucy hurt?" What happened?" Igneel had the sensation of someone dragging a cold blade up his spine when he heard Natsu ask his questions. He didn't dare turn around, not wanting to have the pinkette see the panic on his face.

_'Even if I try to explain, Natsu will just blame himself. If I don't, it'll just delay the problem.'_ The fire dragon's thoughts were racing through his head at a mile a minute. Thankfully, the other pinkette in his life was prepared for it.

"Don't worry Natsu. Lucy's hands just got a little burned at the fight earlier." Grandine's voice softened as she explained to the fire dragon slayer that his friend wasn't seriously hurt. Natsu, however, wasn't very convinced, but he knew he wouldn't get anymore information from asking again. "Come on everybody, we should probably let Natsu rest now." Allowing everyone to walk in front of her, the air dragon closed the door as she was the last person to leave the room.

Letting the humans walk ahead of him, Igneel waited to speak to his pink-haired friend. As he turned to face her. "Hey, Grandine. Tha-"

She cut him off by placing one of her slender fingers on his lips. "Don't thank me. I only bought you more time. It'll be your neck on the line when he figures out what actually happened." Grandine walked away quietly, leaving her silenced friend with his own thoughts.

"Argh! This is so _boring_!" Natsu, not used to either being told to rest or staying in one spot for too long, was already tired of being stuck in the infirmary. _'Screw this. I'm gonna go figure out what happened to Lucy.'_ Being out of the ordinary for his usual character, being quiet, he snuck out of his room, successfully escaping the infirmary. "Now, to find Lucy." He sniffed the air around him until he locked onto the one that belonged to the celestial mage. Even though the guild was filled with all kinds of different people, Natsu was always able to pick out everyone individually.

Running around behind the bar, Natsu caught sight of the blonde talking to the Stauss sisters about something that was worried the two of them, but not her. Using his almost super hearing, he tried to catch what they were talking about.

"So, wait… Can you explain that again please, Lucy?" Lisanna asked, trying to understand what actually happened while everyone was on the top of the hill earlier that day.

_Sigh_. "I already told you. Flam and Natsu were fighting and somehow, she pulled his magic out of him. It was a little ball of flames. Before I knew it, Flam had tossed it to me and I was holding it in my hands. It felt really warm and gentle." Though very few were able to see it, a small smile crept onto the blonde mage's lips. "Well, gentle till she pulled it away to give it back to Natsu. I didn't even realised I had gotten burned until it disappeared into Natsu's chest."

The fire dragon slayer's onyx eyes widened and he moved out from his hiding spot. "What did you say Lucy?" _'She was burned by my magic...'_

End Flashback

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Lucy let out a sigh as she reached the door of her apartment. _'Poor Igneel. It took him three tries to pin Natsu to the ground and calm him down.'_ The lock to her apartment clicked quietly as she opened the wooden door. She half expected Natsu to be sitting on her bed with the window wide open, but then remembered that her teammates were out on a job in a nearby town. _'They'll probably be back tomorrow.'_ After a quick shower and change of clothes, the celestial mage made her way to bed, _'Yeah, definitely tomorrow…'_ And slowly drifted off into the realm of dreams.

* * *

"Hey, Rogue," Elsewhere, just outside of the town of Magnolia, a completely different blonde mage was on the move. "Do you think they're even going to talk to us? Let alone answer our questions?" Sting asked his dark-haired friend, who had a tendency to be a soft-spoken person.

"I guess we'll just have to see. No harm in asking." The shadow dragon slayer's solemn expression remained unchanging. His friend let out a sigh.

"Yeah, that's if we don't get kicked out before we even get a chance to talk to them. You know how those fairies are." Since it was so late at night, their exceed companions were already asleep and curled up on a rock. Sting scratched the back of his head. "I think we're gonna have to wait till tomorrow anyway. They definitely won't talk to us if we're knocking on their doors in the middle of the night." He looked up at the shining moon. _'Yeah, definitely tomorrow, we'll get our answers.'_

* * *

**Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, most of the chapter is a flash back and the story did really advance anywhere, but I wanted to have that scene in it for some reason. Please don't be mad :( I hope you enjoyed it any way, even if nothing really happened.**

**Oh yeah, this story does have a little more pairing than the last one, but I'm not even gonna try writing romance (it's not my thing), so you might just see little things here and there. 'Til next time (be sure to read and review!)**


	4. Scroll-4

**I have no words... I have no excuse... I should be punished... Here is Chapter 4**

* * *

*Next Day*

_Yawn_. "Why is the sun so bright? Did I sleep in too long?" Lucy wondered out loud as she rubbed her eyes to blink out the sunlight that was snaking through the windows. Her chocolate eyes slowly shifted to her pink alarm clock. _'Hm, that time doesn't seem right. Oh well, I'll just head down to the guild.'_ After sliding out of bed and performing a quick change of clothes, the celestial mage grabbed her keys and headed for Fairy Tail. Humming to herself as she carefully teeter-tottered on the stone wall next to the canal, the celestial mage wondered if her friends had returned from their mission the day before. Her excitement grew when she heard the shouting coming from inside the hall._ 'They're definitely back.'_ She didn't have to even open the door before she could figure out what was going on inside.

"HAPPY! GET DOWN HERE!" A certain...sinisterness?... in the voice led Lucy to understand that her red-headed friend got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. And a certain blue feline was making it worse.

"EEP! Natsu! Erza's being scary!" Happy definitely sounded scared and seemed to be somewhere in the air above the ground level of Fairy Tail.

"Ha Ha! I'm not surprised! I'd be scary too if you took some of my cake!" The familiar voice of the fire dragon shouted up to the terrified exceed. Igneel was clearly enjoying whatever was going on far too much.

"Hey, Happy! The sooner you come down, the less angry Erza will be." Despite Gray's words of advice, the blue cat already knew the fate of his doomed self and decided to just avoid it as long as possible.

Elfman, supposedly after seeing a look of fear on Happy's face, "Facing your fears is manly!" chose to shout up some of his own words of advice.

Lucy smiled brightly._ 'It's nice to know everyone's so happy.'_ Well, she couldn't account for everyone, but she had the feeling that her pink-haired friend would be excited to be back. Taking a breath and shutting her eyes, the celestial mage pushed open the large wooden doors to the guild. When she opened her eyes, she wasn't the least bit surprised by the scene that was taking place.

Happy, the current center of attention, was flying high near the support beams of the building's roof in circles. Down below, most of the guild members had their heads turned upward to watch the cat. However, a few of them had become more involved with the situation. Elfman was standing up on one of the wooden tables, ignoring the warning glare from his older sister. Erza, Gray, and Natsu were standing on another table, Erza giving off murderous intent that looked like a demon forming behind her. Natsu was trying to convince Happy to come down while Gray was trying to calm down the armor mage. It was then that Lucy saw the cause of the problem, the small piece of strawberry cheesecake with a bite mark on it. And the matching, incriminating crumbs on Happy's face.

Lucy let out a small sigh. _'Why did Happy think that was a good idea? Oh well, maybe I'll ask later.'_ She put on her bright smile. "Hi guys! Good to see you're back!" Most of the guild members stopped watching the spectacle to face their blonde guild mate and flash her a smile with a wave. Her four friends, who were the main part of the show, ran over to meet her. Well, the one who caused it all was flying.

"Lucy!" The ball of blue fur crashed into her face. "Save me from Erza!" Happy whispered into her ear, hoping that the armor mage would forget about him, but asking for her help just in case. Lucy smiled uncertainly, but continued to hold the azure cat.

"So guys, how did the job go?" After figuring out the the show was now over, most of the guild members moseyed around, going about their own business, like finally leaving for that job they were planning on doing at some point. The group went over to one of the tables that had managed to not be thrown yet that day. Levy, excited to see Lucy, followed the group, bringing with her the rest of Team Shadowgear and Gajeel. Igneel went over as well, curious as to what his son was doing while out on a job.

Erza decided to start the story, taking the advantage of no one else starting yet. Since the incident with Happy ended only moments earlier, no one really wanted to argue with her about it. "Our goal was to catch some bandits who had been terrorizing the town, stealing from traveling merchants and such. So we set up a simple trap, having one of us masquerading as a traveler and lead the bandits into an ambush."

"And it would have worked too," Gray said, taking his chances cutting Erza off. "If Natsu hadn't gone off on his own to take care of the bandits. Thanks to that, we're not allowed to return to that town again. _Ever_." He seemed depressed as he said the last sentence. "I liked it there too. It had a nice, temperate climate."

"Are you crazy, Stripper?! It was the middle of winter. With a blizzard going on!" Natsu yelled across the table at his raven-haired teammate. "I thought they could use a bit of summer. It's not my fault the entire forest caught on fire!"

Igneel smiled sheepishly and sweat-dropped._ 'I guess I'll have to re-teach him that lesson on self-control at some point.'_ He thought, wondering if it was something that he actually needed to do. He liked Natsu being a little unpredictable.

Lucy let out a sigh. "Natsu, lighting something on fire is not the solution to most things. Hey! Are you even listening?" She was only seconds away from hitting her friend on the side of his head to get his attention when she saw the look on his face. It had a mixture of surprise and anger and a few other things that Lucy couldn't find words to describe. "I-is something wrong?" Her friend was usually loud with things he didn't like, him being silent unnerved her.

"Hey, Gajeel. You recognize that stench?" A few eyes wandered over to the iron dragon slayer, only to find that he shared the expression Natsu had.

"Yeah, but why would they come here? The Games have been over for weeks, months." Only those who remembered the fight between the four dragon slayers figured out who they were talking about. The others just sat there, curious.

The orange-haired dragon leaned over toward Grandine, who had walked over to the group at some point, and whispered. "Should I know who they're talking about?" The air dragon simply waved him away with her hand, not really finding answering his question to be all that important.

Moments later, the large wooden doors opened, revealing two people who _definitely_ did not belong to the guild. Sting and Rogue stood in the doorway with their exceed friends standing near their feet. Their faces didn't show any signs of wanting to make trouble, more like they've just been scolded for something, but no one in the guild trusted them anyway. "We've been told that there are three dragons here. We want to speak with them."

The silence in the guild was scraping against everyone's ears as they waited with anticipation for what was going to happened next. Nobody moved. Well, Igneel and Metalicana were moving around to both get a look at the two people who came in, and not get caught doing it. They weren't stupid. They understood the air in the room, full of distrust and hesitance, and knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to be trying to get a look at who had come asking for them. The only person who saw them, with curious expressions on their faces, attempting to catch a glimpse of the two mages who came into the guild, was Grandine. She said nothing, figuring that they'd find out who they were by their scent or someone would tell them later.

"Why are you-" Natsu started, but was promptly cut off.

"You two smell like Weisslogia and Skiadrum. Is it possible that you're Sting and Rogue?" Igneel had stood up and was walking around the table to get closer to the two members of Sabertooth. With wide eyes and hesitant nods, they responded. Lector and Frosch whispered quietly to each other, worried about how the man with the orange hair knew who their partners' parents were. Noticing the worry on the two dragon slayers' faces, the fire dragon chuckled lightly. "Don't worry. My name is Igneel. I knew you parents for several centuries before you were born." His comment allowed the room to relax slightly, but not for very long.

"Why are you two here?" Metalicana, being as impatient as he was, wanted them to get to the point as quickly as they could. He was having a nice relaxing morning in the guild and now these two came in and threw a monkey wrench in it all. "You said you wanted to talk to us. Now's you chance." Slightly taken aback by the iron dragon's abruptness, the holy and shadow dragon slayers sent looks to each other before they began speaking.

"We came to ask about what happened at the Grand Magic Games." The blank expressions that Igneel and Metalicana were showing Sting let him know that they had no clue what he was talking about. The guild members who were there when it happened felt their skin prickle, having an understanding now on what they were going to ask the dragons. "Well, what happened was someone used the Eclipse Gate for time travel and brought dragons through it from centuries ago." Now the two slayers had the complete and undivided attention of all three dragons. "We fought them, but couldn't kill a single one. So, we're dragon slayers, but couldn't even stop one dragon." The pleading expression on his face screamed one word, and one word only. _"Why?"_

Igneel sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, Atlas Flame mentioned something like that a long time ago. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but now it makes sense." His eyes narrowed as he cupped his chin with his hand as he thought. "So you're wondering why, even though you're dragon slayers, you're not able to actually kill any dragons." It looked like even Igneel was having difficulty figuring the mystery out.

"But that makes sense. Weisslogia and Skiadrum were too young to be teaching humans during the Dragon Civil War." The air dragon had finally made her way into the conversation that everyone, regular mages and dragon slayers alike, were listening to.

"But what about us? We weren't able to stop any of the dragons either." Gajeel took the opportunity to ask the dragons a question of his own.

Okay, the fire dragon looked confused before, but now he looked _really_ confused. He turned his head up toward his iron eating friend. "I knew you were tough, but I would've figured that Gajeel was old enough by now."

Metalicana just looked annoyed. "Yeah, he is, but I haven't gotten a chance to do it yet." Now it was the iron dragon slayer's turn to look confused. He wanted to ask what they were talking about, but one of the fire eaters got to it before he did.

"Eh? What are you talking about? What's he old enough to do, but not me?" Gray figured that Natsu wasn't actually curious as to what they were talking about, but rather he was just upset about being excluded. Lucy and Happy, who had been lost from the beginning, were moving their heads in time with each other as they watched everyone started talking over each other, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

Grandine let out a sigh. "This is why no one tries to explain this to five people at once. If all of you quiet down for a moment, I'll explain it for you." After being completely ignored for a few moments… "I SAID BE QUIET!" And that is exactly what everyone did before scurrying away to find a seat to listen to the air dragon explain something that the other two couldn't figure out how to. "Thank you. Now, before I begin, I want to make something clear. By definition, no one in this room is a true dragon slayer."

Igneel and Metalicana shared perfectly timed face-palms. _'Great. Just great. Because it wasn't already confusing enough.'_

* * *

**My only hope is that the plot twist is enough to keep at least one person reading.**


	5. Scroll-5

**I apologize in advance, there are several boring explanations in the future (and in the past a little with the last chapter) Well, here's Chapter 5**

* * *

Not one person in the guild spoke as they eagerly waited for the air dragon to explain the complicated matter of her definition of a 'dragon slayer'.

"Okay, first, I'll explain why regular magic doesn't work against dragons." Even the Master, who had come out of his office when Sting and Rogue showed up, was curious to hear Grandine's explanation of the matter. "All magic works with vibrations. When they're two different speeds, they clash, causing damage to one side or the other. This is why creating a Unison Raid is so difficult. You need to be able to match your partner's vibrations exactly or you could both end up dead. A magic's vibration speed has almost no correspondence with the power of a spell. For example, Ice Make has an incredibly slow vibration speed, but is still powerful." Gray nodded, understanding that something cold would definitely be moving slower than something at a normal temperature. "Dragon magic vibrates exceedingly quickly, giving little chance for any other magic to slip in between and break it apart, which is why it's so difficult to break dragon scales." Her ruby eyes slid over to a certain pinkette. "That's also why dragon slayers appear to be overflowing with energy. Their magic is moving around so quickly that it seems like the world is moving in slow motion to them."

"But why is it like that? Why isn't it like any other magic?" Lucy asked with her brown eyes wide. The pink-haired dragon smiled at the celestial mage's question.

"That actually goes back to when dragons were constantly fighting each other over food and land. Of all the creatures that use magic, dragons are the only ones who consume their own element to replenish their power. The faster they're able to take that energy and use it, the more likely they're going to win and live to see another day." She let out a light sigh, eyes glancing over to the other dragons in the room. _'Those were the days, huh?'_

"Can we get on to our problem at some point?" Gajeel asked roughly, shortly before being elbowed in the ribs by the petite bluenette sitting next to him.

"Be patient!" The small girl scolded the large dragon slayer. She tried to look angry, but it wasn't working very well.

'Aw, she's so cute when she's mad. Wait. What? Ow!' Gajeel snapped out of his thoughts after being smacked on the back of his head by the older iron eater.

"Pay attention, boy. Maybe you'll learn something if you try real hard." His dark eyes, which were previously narrowed toward his son, softened and looked back up at the pink-haired dragon. "You may continue." A thin smile pulled at his rough face as he gestured for his friend to do as he said.

With a smile of her own in return, the air dragon resumed her explanation. "Thank you. Now, dragon slaying magic is unique. It wasn't made by humans nor was it ever intended to be used by them. Because of that, it is extremely unstable. It's vibrations are faster than regular magic, but slower than a dragon's and it's constantly changing, creating motion sickness when you're riding something that doesn't have living magic. Only a mature dragon slayer has a consistent vibration for their magic and no motion sickness." You could almost see the slayers eyes sparkle at the prospect of no motion sickness. "However, becoming a mature dragon slayer is something that is virtually impossible after the Dragon Civil War." Even though the guild couldn't get any quieter, at that point it seemed to be silent beyond what was natural. "You need a dragon of the same element to permanently change the magic inside of you. Not only is it difficult, but also pretty dangerous. I knew a few dragons who accidentally killed their children because they were too inexperienced to try to do it."

The dragon slayers and their friends, which was pretty much everyone in the guild, visually tensed. Sting and Rogue's eyes widened as they looked at each other. "But what about…" The blond mage started, but didn't have the heart to finish.

"Don't worry about saying the rest. I know exactly what happened to Weisslogia and Skiadrum." Igneel said as he stood up, surprising and worrying the two Sabertooth dragon slayers. His voice was so steady that they couldn't tell is he was angry or not about them killing their dragon parents. "Both the holy and shadow dragons weren't even alive when the Dragon Civil War was being waged. They were far too young to attempt anything like trying to adjust your magic, but they wanted you two to be strong enough to survive on your own." He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "Bathing in a dragon's blood is a way to get stronger and with their situation, that was their only option. However, that also means that you two will never be able to become true dragon slayers unless you find another pair of holy and shadow dragons who are willing to help you. None of us here are able to do it for you. I'm sorry." The fire dragon's apologetic and sorrowful expression caught the two slayers by surprise, but they nodded in response.

"It's better that we at least understand now. Thank you for your time." Rogue said at last before slowly turning on his heel and walking toward the large wooden doors that led into the guild, followed by first Frosch, then Lector, and finally Sting, who waved sadly as the doors closed. The silence they left behind in the guild was prickling at everyone's skin. No one wanted to be the one to break it, for reasons they could not explain in words. Of course, there is always that one person who still wants to know more.

"How does the changing of the magic work?" Wendy asked with bright brown eyes full of curiosity.

"Y'know, that's a good question. I don't know." An evil grin appeared on Igneel's face as he turned toward the iron dragon. "But that's okay because it's Metalicana's turn to explain something." The grey-haired dragon's facial expression moved from surprise to anger at an impressive speed.

"Hell no! I probably know less about it than you do!" Metalicana was now standing only inches from the fire dragon, who had a sly smile on his lips. It was then that the two of them shared an idea.

In time with each other and matching bright grins, the iron and fire dragons turned to their air using friend. "Your turn again!" The two of them attempted to escape before they could be forced to stay and explain something that they _really_ didn't feel like explaining. Well, there's a reason that 'attempted' was the word choice.

Because the pink-haired dragon had known that her two friends weren't exactly going to want to take any part in explaining something that complicated, she prepared a chair, which she ended up throwing at the back of Metalicana's head. "Oh no you don't! Get back here!" The large dragon fell and managed to run into Elfman, who then ran into Cana's barrel of beer, which she had stopped drinking to listen to the explanation.

"Elfman!" The card mage, in the quest of vengeance for her beer, placed a powerful kick into the Take-Over mage's ribs, sending him toppling into another table. Unfortunately for him, that happened to be the table that Erza's new piece of cheesecake was living on. Well, not for very long after the table shattered into an uncountable amount of splinters, crushing the dessert. Of course, the scarlet-haired armor mage couldn't let Elfman get away with that. Before long, an enormous fight broke out, pulling in every member of Fairy Tail, excluding the Master, who was having far too much fun watching his children be themselves: trouble-makers.

"G-Grandine! W-wait!" Shouted the quite terrified fire dragon at the woman who had managed to finally corner him and his iron eating friend. Because of the dark aura surrounding her, Igneel figured that she either didn't hear him or didn't care about what he said. "It's all Metalicana's fault!" His final attempt at escaping earned him a look from said iron dragon. _'It's everyone for themselves, man.'_ He shrugged back. _'Oh shit...'_ He thought when he realised his back was now touching the wooden wall and there was no where for him to run.

"Hey, Grandine! Can you come over here for a second?" The barmaid called to her pink-haired friend.

"Sure, Mira!" The air dragon smiled in response and happily walked over, leaving the two male dragons as they breathed sighs of relief. Well, they would've be able to relax more if they hadn't heard the Take-Over mage whisper something about oweing her one. Of course, Grandine didn't actually forget about punishing them, but she figured that, when their sons would ask them about the changing their magic, that would be punishment enough. It was a painful decision to make. _'I know what Metalicana will do. Gajeel is definitely old enough to be tested, but Natsu is bordering on being too young. What will you do Igneel?'_ Her eyes drifted sadly toward the fire dragon who had escaped the corner and was having a cheerful conversation with the Master. _'Are the wounds from last time still too fresh?'_

* * *

*The Next Morning*

Yawn. "What was that, Lucy?" Natsu asked, after the blonde mage explained the details of the job she had grabbed for them to do later that day, but was now reconsidering. The dragon slayer lazily rubbed his eye while Happy was curled up on top of his head, asleep.

_'Jeez... What did these two do last night?'_ Lucy wondering as she looked at her two friends with worry written all over her face. "Natsu, you don't look like you got any sleep last night. Are you okay?" Instead of answering her question, the pinkette let his head land with a thump on the table and started snoring lightly._ 'Idiot.'_ She thought before walking over to the bar where Igneel and Metalicana were sitting. Gray and Erza left for a job late last night in order to pay for some of the damages to guild during the fight. The armor mage had been the one to cause most of the damage, but she dragged along Gray because she wanted to make sure the job went smoothly so they could bring back as much of the reward money as they could. "Hey, Igneel. You got any idea why your son looks like he hasn't slept any of last night?"

The fire dragon turned his head to look past the celestial mage. "Looks like he's sleeping now. I guess this problem solves itself."

"Hey! Old man!" Gajeel's voice called over to the iron dragon. The slayer was walking up to them with Levy carrying Pantherlily following close behind. Lucy became concerned when she saw the worry on Levy's face as the girl tightened her grip on the small cat she was holding. Gajeel's determined expression sent a chill down her spine as she figured out exactly why the iron dragon slayer had come over to his father that morning.

Luckily, she wasn't the only one. "I'm no psychic, but I've got a feeling I know what you want to ask me." His dark eyes pierced straight through Gajeel. "You're old enough now but I'm not sure you're going to be able to handle my test. You need to go train for a while, maybe after you're stronger, I'll test you. My tests are tough and I really do want you to succeed so I'm gonna ask that you wait until you're able to handle it." He flashed an almost invisible smile to the small, blue-haired girl who had just then relaxed at hearing the dragon's words. The iron dragon slayer nodded in response, respecting the older man's words, but clearly looking disappointed.

"What about me then?" Lucy almost slapped Natsu in the face as a response to someone just randomly popping up behind her. Apparently recovered from his lack of sleep, the fire dragon slayer asked his question with his signature grin on his face.

Igneel didn't even turn his head when he answered his over-excited son. "No." Any happiness in Natsu's face drained away in an instant.

"Why not?" He wasn't whining or anything like that, but he had lost his energy, and it showed. He also didn't look angry, simply surprised.

The fire dragon's face remained unchanged, but he had now turned to face his son. "Because you're not ready yet."

"I'm almost as old as Gajeel, I'm strong, and I definitely want to do this." Natsu's face became serious with determination as he stood his ground against his father.

"Metalicana's criteria are different than mine." Igneel replied, clearly becoming more annoyed with his pink-haired son. It was then that Lucy became worried about being between the two fire users as things were beginning to heat up. (Yes, pun definitely intended.)

Natsu cracked a small smile. "How about this? If I beat you in a fight right here and now, you'll at least consider it." It wasn't usually like Natsu to be arrogant, but he really wanted to become a true dragon slayer. Also because he didn't want to have to deal with motion sickness anymore. _'This'll give me a chance to face Dad. I've haven't done that in, what, fourteen years?'_ Natsu thought as he anxiously awaited the response from the older fire-eater.

Igneel narrowed his eyes. "Alright, then. If that's what you want." He lightly stepped off of his stool and moved away from the bar while Natsu moved even farther away to stand across from him. A few people, who had been listening to the conversation taking place by the bar, turned to watch the fight between father and son. The fire dragon's expression remained unchanged as Natsu got into a fighting stance.

_'What a dumbass.'_ The iron dragon thought as he watched his friend not even get into a stance to face his son. _'I hope Igneel finishes it without hurting his kid too much.'_

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu shouted, igniting his hand as he charged toward the orange-haired dragon, who had been looking downward, hiding his eyes with his bangs. Igneel didn't move even an inch until Natsu was only moments from punching him in the face. After quickly sidestepping the pinkette, the fire dragon roundhouse kicked Natsu in the head, sending him flying into a nearby wall with a loud SMACK.

The wood of the wall gained many new cracks that spread upward in a spider web-like pattern. The side of Natsu's head that was struck began to bleed scarlet as Natsu's eyes were open wide, staring off into space, parallel to the wall. Gajeel suddenly felt sick to his stomach when he realised that some of the cracking he heard wasn't from the wall, but rather Natsu's skull. While Igneel took a few steps toward Natsu, small legless dragons made of blood-red flames swirled around his feet. "This is your one and only warning." The victor raised his chin to reveal his blazing, magma-colored eyes. "If you approach me again on this matter, while you are still not ready, I will kill you."

After Natsu had been kicked into the wall, all the eyes in the guild had turned to face the pair and it was at that very moment that reality smacked most of them in the face. _'These three aren't humans. They never have been.'_

By the time Igneel had started speaking, Natsu's cognitive function had returned enough for him to hear what the dragon said. It wasn't that Natsu was upset about Igneel was mad at him, he'd gotten Igneel mad before, but that he was angry with Natsu. The dragon slaying boy had never seen his father truly angry before, but now he that did, it _terrified_ him.

* * *

**I'm sorry. I kinda made Igneel the bad guy :( I promise that it will all be explained though!**


	6. Scroll-6

**This is the third of the triple-release... I don't know how this happened... Here's Chapter 6**

* * *

"Natsu! Stop squirming!" The air dragon nearly screamed into the ear of the patient she was working on. The younger pinkette flinched at her words, but ceased his moving for the rest of the healing, hoping that him not moving would help get it over with sooner. Grandine was angry because her fire eating friend's little "warning" terrified Wendy and it took her over an hour to convince the blue-haired girl that she would never do that to her. _'I'll explain it to Natsu later. Now that this has happened, he deserves to know._' She thought as she resumed healing the side of the fire dragon slayer's head.

Natsu winced when the pink-haired dragon yanked out another one of the splinters from the side of his head. He had lost count at around 50. His defeated expression was painful for his friends to look at, so they glanced at an uninteresting spot on either the floor or the ceiling of the infirmary. Happy was unusually quiet because he was still in shock from what he had witnessed. His best friend always talked about his father in such a cheerful manner and when Happy had met the older fire eater, he seemed to match Natsu's stories. So the azure cat wondered. _'Did I really see that happen? Was that really the Igneel Natsu told me about?'_

He was not the only one confused. When Natsu was first defeated so brutally, even Erza had been speechless. Grey had gone over to help Natsu up after he collapsed against the wall, while glaring at the orange-haired dragon, who simply watched the ice-mage with his unchanging expression. The Master himself had to give warning glances to people who looked liked they were ready to go after the dragon. They didn't care if he was Natsu's father at that point, he had purposely hurt one of their own and threatened his life. It had been Metalicana to tell Igneel to "cool off" by taking a walk outside. Though the iron dragon didn't know it, his son had seen the fear flash across his face when the smaller dragon's eyes had turned up to meet his own. The old iron dragon hadn't seen that expression on his friend's face since a time he did not wish to remember or ever see again. Realizing that it probably wasn't a good idea to stay inside a building where an entire guild of mages was angry at you, Igneel left, walking into the bright sunlight of Magnolia that seemed to oppose the dark aura coming from the fire dragon.

"Alright, that's enough for now. I believe I got all of the splinters out, but if you find another one, come to either myself or Wendy and we'll take it out for you." Granding told Natsu as the blue healing magic surrounding her hands dissipated. It had been about an hour since the air dragon started, but she wanted to make sure that she completely healed the pinkette's head. "Just try to not get hit in the head again today, okay?" She smiled at the boy, trying to cheer him up. Natsu smiled back and nodded, but everyone could still tell that he was shaken up by what happened, and they couldn't blame him. You don't usually get sent flying into a wall after being kicked by your dad who happens to be a dragon. You just don't.

The air dragon stood up, leaving her patient who still sat cross-legged on the white sheets of the bed. "I'm gonna go check and see if anything needs to be taken care of outside." After receiving an nod from the armor mage, Grandine left the Infirmary, closing the door quietly behind her. "Hey, Metalicana." She asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention from the guild members who still weren't very accepting of the scene that had taken place. "Did you know where Igneel went?" Her grey-haired friend shook his head.

"All I know is that he isn't in here anymore." The largely built man answered as his eyes traced the edge of the room, noting the people who were still glaring at them. "Sorry, I'm not that helpful. I just wanted to make sure he didn't take his anger out on anyone else. People here have a tendency to start fights without any reason, let's not give a real one to them." The crimson eyed lady nodded in response. "I'm a little worried about that Matchstick, he's not very good at listening to advice." Concern was a rare expression to see on the iron dragon's face, but it was definitely showing signs of his for his friend.

"I'll come back after I make sure he's okay." Grandine stated finally before walking toward the guild doors, followed by a trail composed of wisps of cool air that danced behind her. Several pairs of eyes softened as they watched her walk by. This had not been her fault, there was no reason to be angry at the women who had worked hard to heal their injuries over the years. The silence that consumed the guild after the large wooden doors creaked shut seemed to be suffocating. These recent days with the dragon's around had been difficult, and there didn't seem to be any end in sight.

_'Where did you go, Igneel?'_ The fire dragon had disappeared and left behind no scent trail, a skill he learned many years ago and had not forgotten. Grandine looked left and right, but didn't see any traces of her orange-haired friend. She tried to use her magic to find him with the air, but there were so many people in Magnolia, she couldn't tell which one was Igneel. Stranded without any leads, the air dragon had no choice but to pick a direction and start walking to search for her friend.

The sun began to set, turning the sky's bright blue into a sea of indigo and sapphire that forsaken clouds roamed silently. Quiet breezes floated through the empty streets of the town that was full of life earlier that day. Well, the streets were not completely empty. A woman in a white dress with long, pink hair still wandered through the city. 'Could he have left Magnolia?' She wondered, just before remembering the one place she had yet to check. 'He has to be there.'

The salty sea air caused the grass around the fire dragon to bend back with grace, not a bit of resistance to the unstoppable force. He stood in silence as he watched the golden orb, that supplied all the energy in the world, go to rest for the next day behind the ocean.

"Igneel." He refused to turn his head, unable to look into the blood-red eyes of the person who had come to find him. She let out a sigh. "I finished pulling all the splinters out of Natsu's head a little while ago. I would have been finished earlier if he didn't keep squirming." In the few moments of without words, the gentle blow of the wind seemed deafening. "You know, he's not angry at you. He's confused, but not angry." It appeared that the air dragon's words finally reached the ears of their intended target, instead of continuing to fall on deaf ones.

The fire dragon began to turn his head to face Grandine. "I know, it's just-_COUGH! COUGH!_" As he clutched his chest with his left hand and fell to one knee, droplets of blood escaped the lips of the orange-haired dragon. _"Agh!"_ His eyes and teeth were tightly clenched shut as blood continued to drip off of his sharpened fangs.

_"Igneel!"_ With the speed of the wind, Grandine ran to him and dropped to her knees. She gently placed one of her hands, glowing with blue healing magic, over his on his chest and wrapped her other one around his shoulder. "This is what I warned you about after you first came to Fairy Tail. A human's body can't handle the stress of your fire magic. That includes the strength you used to kick your son into the wall." She tightened her grip on his shoulder and shut her eyes. "Don't be destroyed by the anger you hold for something that cannot be changed." The fire dragon did not respond, he simply allowing himself to be healed in silence.

* * *

The large wooden doors of the guild opened, revealing the soot-black sky that was dotted with shining stars. Most of the guild members had gone home because it was late at night, but a few still remained, some cleaning the guild, others drinking. The air dragon walked in and made her way toward the bar where her grey-haired friend was chomping down on one of the old spoons. "Hey, Grandine." Her scarlet eyes flicked to meet the iron dragon's black ones. "Is Matchstick alright?"

She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. "His wounds are healed, but I can't do anything about his pride or stupidity."

Metalicana chuckled. "Got that right. Those are gonna be his downfall." The iron dragon continued to laugh as the air dragon glared daggers at him, not finding his comment very funny.

"Grandine!" She whipped her head around to face the voice that was calling her name. "Do you know where Igneel is?" Natsu was running toward her with Happy flying close behind and his friends walking quickly in order to keep up.

A noticeable amount of worry flashed over the pinkette's face when he got closer to the air dragon. _'Did I get some of Igneel's blood on me? Is that what's making him worry? I'm such an idiot.'_ Grandine almost smacked herself for being so stupid, but now was not the time. She drew in a deep breath. _'Alright, here it goes.'_ "Sorry, Natsu. I don't know where he is right now, but I have something to tell you." Her eyes looked over the rest of the people who had come over with him. "You probably want to hear this too." She turned her head to face the Master as he sat up on the balcony of the second floor. "Master, do you mind if we use your office for a few moments?" After receiving a slightly drunken nod, the air dragon led them into the small office, having Grey shut the door.

"There is nothing to excuse Igneel's actions this morning, but I'm hoping to put it some more context for you." She locked eyes with the fire dragon slayer. "First of all, it was not you that he was angry at, but rather himself. Turning someone into a true dragon slayer brings back some bad memories for him." Her crimson eyes began to drift downward, leaving behind a curious expression on the boy's face.

It was Lucy who assumed the worse scenario from the words of the pink-haired dragon. "D-Did he accidentally, you know…" She didn't want to finish her question, worried that it could be true. Even though it wasn't completed, in the moment before the air dragon answered, cool snakes slithered down the spines of Natsu and his friends.

It actually took a little while for Grandine to figure out what the blond girl was talking about. "Ah, no. No, that's not it. Igneel is an old dragon and I taught him how to change the magic myself. He would not make such a mistake. No, this goes back to the time of the Dragon Civil War. Our side, the ones who wanted dragons and humans to live together, was losing, so we started teaching humans Dragon Slaying Magic in hopes of turning the tide. Igneel taught a man no older than Erza by the name of Ivan Griskowitz." A small smile tugged at the corners of the air dragon's mouth. "He was eager to learn and always full of energy. After his magic was changed and he was able to fight, he was a exceedingly powerful ally." Grandine was no longer smiling and the air in the room gained a chill as her eyes turned a darker shade of blood-red. "It was after the war that the problem began. I'm sure you've heard of the few dragon slayers that are the reason their magic has such a gruesome name, the ones who started killing dragons no matter what side they were on. Unfortunately, Ivan was one of them." The silence in the room was so alive it was like it was ready to tear apart anyone who dared to move. The air dragon let the information soak in before she continued, starting off again with a sigh. "He killed several powerful dragons who had fought on our side of the war. He also killed some who had refused to take part in the conflict. Igneel, of course, felt responsible, and set out to correct his mistake. He was forced to burn to the ground something he had once nurtured and cared for. That is the reason for his agitated response to your eager desire to be tested earlier. Igneel is afraid of having history repeat itself because it does far too often, not because he specifically thinks you're going to turn out the same way." The pink-haired dragon hoped that her story offered at least some consolation to Natsu.

The fire dragon slayer thought for a while before raising his eyes to meet Grandine's. "Thank for telling me, but I'm still going to ask Igneel until he agrees to test me." A warm smile spread over the air dragon's lips.

"You do that. I've got to warn you though, he's pretty stubborn." An air of happiness lifted that darkness out of the small room. Of course, not wanting to waste such a perfect set-up…

"Like father, like son, I guess. This flame-brain's pretty stubborn too." Grey chuckled as the person who he made the jab at turned around to face him.

"What did you say, Ice Princess!?" Natsu shouted, as he became ready to start a fight there and then. Grey was not helping by preparing his magic too. Erza and Lucy were enjoying themselves watching as the two friends' argument became more and more physical. Well, until Erza noticed something.

"Wait! Don't damage the Master's books!" Sadly, her warning came too late.

Now it was Grandine's turn to be amused as she watched the group of mages try to fix the either burnt or waterlogged books. _'You've got nothing to worry about, Igneel. Sure, he's a little clumsy and needs some more self-control, but so do you.'_

* * *

**Alright, I know that there was a lot of confusing stuff explained in these three chapters, so if something's unclear, just say so and I'll try to reword it better**

**Oh yeah, don't worry, Igneel's not going to die. (And yes, it's the same reason he was coughing up blood when he first arrived at Fairy Tail with no external injuries)**

**And before anyone asks why Natsu uses the same magic and can handle it, it's because Natsu has been using the dragon magic with a human body for many years, his body's used to it. Igneel hasn't been a human for very long, so his body can't handle the level of magic he's used to using.**


	7. Scroll-7

**Well, I be back. Um, I feel like there's something I want to say, but I can't remember what it is so, here's Chapter 7**

* * *

The rest of that night had been rather uneventful. Erza and Lucy made sure that the boys explained the situation of the books from the office being damaged. The Master was moments away from punishing them, only to be stopped by Grandine who used the opportunity to reiterate the story to the Master, feeling that he too should know about Igneel's first son. Speaking of the fire dragon, only one person knew where he was, somewhere no one was going to look for him. He had decided against returning to the guild, concerned about stirring up dust that had just barely settled.

"Natsu!" The pink-haired boy jumped at the armor mage's voice and banged his head on the table he was scrubbing underneath, causing him to mutter a curse under his breath. "What was that?!"

"Nothing!" He shouted back, hoping that his friend would leave it at that. Luckily for him, she went to go bother Grey, who had also been put to work scrubbing the floors, their punishment, which the Master did not forget to give them. Almost all of the guild members had gone home already, excluding Grey, Natsu, Erza, and Grandine, who was helping Erza make sure another fight didn't start. Happy had fallen asleep only moments into the scrubbing, so Lucy took him to her house. The white-haired barmaid warned them to make sure that there wasn't a single bit of dust when she came back the next morning. _'What's the point? No one cares about dust being on the floor.'_ He thought to himself, not daring to complain out loud.

He grumbled and look back down to the floor at a small pile of dust. _'This is your fault!'_ Moments before the fire dragon slayer violently swept the dust away with his wash-cloth, a warm breeze drifted by, gently picking up the pile. Like a serpent slowly growing thicker, the stream of air went underneath and around all the tables, picking up more and more dust as it flew past. Both Grey and Erza had stopped to watch the display of grains that floated through the air, unnoticed on their own, but beautiful when brought together.

"That's enough of that. Don't you think?" Grandine asked with a caring smile on her face. It was already late and she didn't want them to be forced to stay the night in the guild hall sweeping the floors. Her pale hand flowed like a conductor's baton through the air as she guided the dust out through one of the open windows, disappearing into a transparent silhouette against the bright moon. "Let's go home and get a good night's sleep. We never know what tomorrow will bring." Her smile seemed to gain hints of telling and slyness in it, but no one was really sure if that was what they saw.

* * *

"Happy, it's time to get up." The celestial mage attempted, unsuccessfully, to rouse the sleeping feline. She had thought that at some point, Natsu was going to come by and take him home, but apparently, that was not the case._ 'Maybe they're still sweeping the floor.'_ She considered, making a face when she remembered that one of the most feared women in Fairy Tail was forced to stay up all night with them. _'Maybe I should make sure I don't irritate Erza this morning.'_ Finally, Happy woke up, mumbling something about fish as he rolled to his other side and curled up. "Well, whether you're awake or not, I'm carrying you to Fairy Tail." Without waiting for a response, the blond mage scooped the cat into her arms and left her apartment, bound for their guild.

Just as she caught sight of the large building, the wooden doors were trust open by the body of someone who supposedly lost in the current fight and was thrown out by accident. _'Are they at it already?'_ She thought with a sigh when she got close enough to hear some of the shouting. There was no surprise when she turned the corner and saw the inside of the guild, tables, chairs, and magic flying around inside and the lucky few who were standing by the bar and not part of the fighting. Not yet, at least. Lucy couldn't see exactly who they were, but knew her best chances of surviving the day were to be standing with them. _'Alright, I just have to make it over there!'_ As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the hall seemed to grow longer and the projectiles faster. _'I'll never make it!'_ A small aura of depression drooped over the celestial mage as she looked downward.

The blue cat in her arms began to stir when she squeezed him a little too tight. "What's the matter?" He asked while using his small paw to rub the sleep from his eyes. The cyan feline didn't seem at all surprised that he woke up in his teammate's arms, only feet from a fight going on. "Hey Natsu!" The exceed suddenly burst into life, jumped out of Lucy's hands, and flew toward his friend.

"Ah! Wait!" The blond mage reached out, but it was too late to catch the flying cat. She let out a small sigh and hung her head. _'I guess I'll have to run this gauntlet by myself.'_ Dropping to one knee as if lining up for a track meet, Lucy prepared herself to race across the guild and not get hit by something along the way. _'Here it goes. 1...2...3!'_

At the shot of an imagined gun, the celestial broke into a run through the entrance of the hall. The first couple of feet, everything's fine. After that, things start to get hairy. Her first opponent, a wooden table that was chosen to be sent flying across the room. She was far too close and going too fast to stop her nose from smacking into the wood. Luckily, the wood was sliced to ribbons, moments before its meeting, by a set of sharp swords. Though she was relieved, the blond mage didn't get the chance to even take a breath before the next thing was sent for her, shards of ice. This time, instead of being unable to stop, she couldn't move, paralyzed by fear as she watched the glinting fangs come closer to her. Inches from her face, a swarm of tarot cards flew by, shattering the pieces of ice into a fine glitter that floated toward the floor slowly. Hope filled Lucy when she realized she was only a few steps from the safe-zone, the bar. Time seemed to slow as the last couple of steps became longer and longer, to make up for the bar seemingly moving further and further away. _'Just a little farther.'_ Of course, nothing is ever that smooth.

_FWOOSH!_ An enormous billow of flame erupted behind the celestial mage, sending her forward with enough force to take her off her feet. "EEK!" She screamed as she closed her eyes and covered her face with her arms, in an attempt to not crash into the edge of the wooden bar. She was shocked when she didn't feel that she ran into the bar, but more like she ran into a person, knocked them over, and was now laying on top of them. In the moment before she opened her eyes, she thought. _'Whoever this is, they're really warm.'_ She physically tensed she she realized that there were only two people she knew who were warmer than the average person. She slowly opened one chocolate eye, snapping them both open when she saw she was staring right into the magma ones that belonged to the fire dragon.

He looked a little surprised, but not angry. While Lucy was still too scared to move, he started to become annoyed, crunching down on the stick of charcoal he had in his mouth. "Would you mind getting off of me?"

"Ah! Sorry!" She quickly scrambled off of the orange-haired dragon and stood up, offering her hand to help him up. He took it and hoisted himself up, mumbling some kind of thanks as he continued to walk by her. _'Great, just great.'_ She heard light chuckling behind her.

"Don't worry about it, Lucy. He wasn't looking where he was going either. He was busy with something else." Grandine pointed toward where Igneel had walked farther into the middle of the hall. "Take a look." A few of the guild members moved out of the way to see the two fire users standing across from each other.

"I'm gonna get you this time!" Natsu shouted with a huge grin on his face, showing off his pointed canines. It was then that Lucy noticed that Happy wasn't with him, but over with Grey.

Igneel had a matching grin on his face. "I'd like to see you try!" In both hands, he began to prepare balls of flame that glowed brightly. Natsu did the same. "Ready… Set…"

_"GO!"_ The two fire users shouted at the same time, seconds before they started throwing the balls of flame at each other. Because neither of them were particularly accurate, everyone in the guild had to dodge the flames that came their way. It was like watching two people dance as they maneuvered around the flames, sometimes taking one and throwing it back toward its summoner.

"I believe they dubbed this game 'fire dodgeball'." Grandine said with a smile. "They've been doing this all morning. I think at some point last night, Natsu found Igneel and they settled everything." She quickly ducked to avoid being smacked in the face by a fireball. "Or they're just being boys and this is how they solve their issues." The air dragon was clearly amused by the antics of the father and son team.

Lucy had burst out laughing at the last comment. "Yeah, that would make sense." She hadn't even noticed the iron dragon walk up to the side of the bar.

"Seriously, that idiot's got bipolar or something. He angry one day, but senselessly happy the next day." Metalicana grumbled, seconds before a ball of fire appeared out of midair above him and dissipated to reveal Flam in her child's form.

"Metalicana-san! That's not a nice thing to say." The petite fairy began to beat her small fists on the top of the large dragon's head, not really affecting him. Her bright eyes turned and saw the other two fire users still playing their game. "Eh?! They're playing fire dodgeball without me?" Not wanting to miss out on the fun, the fairy created little flames on her hands, so small that they were almost impossible to see. She flew over and began to throw them around as well, not really toward one person or the other.

The fight didn't last much longer after that. In the end, it was Igneel who won, trapping Natsu in a headlock on the floor. Though they were both panting and pieces of their clothes were scorched, they managed to end the fight grinning brightly at each other. Flam, who wasn't particularly tired, helped them get up and walk toward the bar where Natsu took a seat and Igneel let his head rest on the bar itself. Gajeel, Pantherlily, and Levy walked over toward the bar as well.

"Looks like you two had fun." Levy was smiling brightly, clutching the chapter of Lucy's book that she had in her hands, as if to protect it from the flames that had ceased flying. Natsu gave her a thumbs up, still panting from the contest.

Flam, who was now sitting on the back of the fire dragon's head, pondered for a few seconds, then looked up at Metalicana. "You said something about Gajeel not being strong enough to be tested, right?" The grey haired dragon nodded in response. "Then why doesn't he just train with Ferr for a little while?" Suddenly, a huge grin spread across the fairy's face. "That's a great idea! Ferr can train Gajeel, I can train Natsu, and Ven can train Wendy! It's perfect! They can all test together!" Her head snapped back and forth between the iron and air dragon, not caring about the dragon whose head she was sitting on. "How does that sound? No one besides me has gotten to see humans in _forever_!" Despite the fact she had an adult form, the little fairy certainly knew how to act like a child.

Grandine shrugged her shoulders. "Sounds good to me. I think if Ven helps her, she'll be able to pass my test." The blue haired girl, who had walked up behind the air dragon to hear more of the conversation, was so happy, she tackled her mother in a hug, surprising the dragon.

The fire fairy redirected her attention to the iron dragon in order to hear his answer. "Works for me. Just make sure that Ferr doesn't kill him before he gets the chance to be tested." Metalicana's small smile made it difficult to tell if he was being serious or not.

"Hey, Natsu! Does that sound good to you?" Flam asked, spinning around in the orange locks of hair to face the fire dragon slayer whose big grin answered her question before she even asked. "Alrighty then!" She bent her head backwards to look at the iron dragon upside down. "You should bring Ferr here. She's been _dying_ to see you again."

At first, the grey haired dragon looked a little surprised, but then simply shrugged. "Okay, it'll give Gajeel a chance to meet her before they go off for training." He glanced around at the inside of the guild. "We should probably do this outside." With a squeal of joy, the fire fairy jumped off of Igneel's head and sped toward the large double doors that were the entrance to the guild. The rest of the group and a few curious bystanders followed the girl outside, including Igneel, who was muttering as he tried to fix his partially singed hair from where the fairy's wings had gotten to close to the locks.

Once outside, the group created a circle with Metalicana standing at one side. "You guys might want to step back a little bit." He warned the people who had gotten to close out of curiosity. He took one of the old spoons that he had, crumbled it with his teeth, and placed the filings of metal on the ground in the center of the circle. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. _**"I summon you! Empress of the Iron Fairies, Ferrum!"** _The pile of metal burst violently into a column of sparkling, grey smoke.

The smoke dissipated to reveal the fairy summoned by the iron dragon. A lot of the guild members expected her to look like Flam, the only other fairy they had seen, but their expectations were quickly blown away. She reminded Lucy of Juvia, that time she was possessed by the heavy metal rocker. She had boots that were made of black leather and reached up to her knees. They were laced up with long string in the front and were studded with iron bolts. Her cut off, short jeans didn't really cover all that much of her legs, but her thin, black tights, that were torn in many places, attempted to. Her stomach was exposed and her bellybutton had a small sliver piercing in it. Black wrappings protected her breasts, leaving little to be imagined by the guys in the audience. She had a jeans jacket that seemed to have been ripped in half at the waist and had its sleeves torn off. Her jewelry consisted of a silver gothic cross necklace on a chain, heavy iron rings on her fingers, and three piercings in each pointed ear. She had her talon-like nails painted with a crimson that was so dark that it was almost impossible to see the red. The deep black of her short, unruly hair clashed with the gleaming white of her skin in the sun. Her wings were like that of a dragonfly, they were long, thin pieces of metal that stuck out behind her and vibrated so quickly that it looked like there were at least ten in each wing. If anyone was brave enough to get closer, the pieces would give them the impression that they were sword blades. Her tail was different from Flam's in that it was both longer, nearly six feet, and skinnier, no more than a two inch diameter at the base and tapered toward the end. It appeared to be made from plates of steel and was decorated with sharp barbs. A tongue licked her plum purple lips as she scoured the crowd with her dark sapphire eyes. "So," Her sinister smile showed sparkling and… quite pointy… teeth that sent chills down peoples' spines. "Who wants to play?"

* * *

**I'm not sure why, but I _really_ like Ferr. (Yes, I know that Ferrum is technically a neuter word, but it worked so well.) Sorry Gajeel, you're in for a world of hurt.**

**I'm sorry if Igneel's return wasn't satisfactory, but I feel like Natsu's easy forgiveness and childishness comes from somewhere.**

**Till nest time!**


	8. Scroll-8

**Hi Everyone! I finally remembered what I was going to say last time: Ferr wears leather boots in honor of Metalica's 'Fairies Wear Boots'. Well, I hope you enjoy Chapter 8 :) (Sorry about the long break, my friend who helps me edit was on a trip.)  
**

* * *

People shrunk away as they were approached by the fairy who looked ready to pounce, claws at the ready.

"Well?" She asked with a sly smile. "Any takers?" She was summoned facing away from the iron dragon, so she hadn't yet seen him and was far too interested in looking at the humans to think about searching for his scent. She did, however, see something that sparked her interest. "Ooh! Shiny!" With a small hop, she lifted herself off the ground and floated in the air with her wings buzzing lightly. It barely took her a second to fly to Erza while her eyes were bright with excitement and a huge grin on her face. Still flying, she twisted and turned around the armor mage as her tail followed closely, trying to look at every single piece of the Heart Kruz Armor. "Wow, this is the best condition I've seen this armor in! And it suits you so well! Do you have any more armor? Oh, there's a little spot of rust here, but that can be cleaned easily." The other guildmates standing in the crowd relaxed when they saw the iron fairy's childish response to seeing Erza's armor. The scarlet haired mage herself, who had tensed up when the fairy flew toward her, relaxed as well.

The summoner of the fairy was not amused by her actions. "Ferrum! Get back over here now!" The fairy suddenly stopped circling Erza and slowly turned her head to face the iron dragon.

"Metalicana-sama!" She squealed with joy moments before she bolted towards him, almost slicing Grey's face with her tail as she flew by. Clearly, the grey-haired dragon didn't expect his fairy to come back to him quite so quickly, as he was barreled over by a woman who was a fraction of his size. "It's been such a long time!" She was now laying on his chest with her chin resting on her hands propped up by her elbows. Her legs were bent at the knees, cocked above her back while her wings, no longer buzzing, lay flat down along her spine. Her tail slithered through the air above her like a snake listening to a charmer's pipe.

While most of the people watching the scene were shocked to silence at how one fairy knocked down a large man and was now laying on top of him, Grandine tried to hide her smile with her hand while her fire-using friend was laughing out loud. "Be careful what you wish for, my friend!" He barely managed to get out as his iron friend glared at him.

The iron dragon let out a small sigh. "Can you please get off of me, Ferr?" She looked a little disappointed, but she nodded in response and hopped off of the dragon quickly, reaching out a hand to help him up afterwards. Flam, still in her small form, flew over to the iron fairy and sat on her shoulder, allowing her wings to dissipate. Metalicana, after brushing himself off from falling on the ground, was now standing facing the two fairies with his arms crossed. "Now, do you know why you're here?" Ferr thought for a few moments, cupping her chin with one hand, but came up with nothing, so she shook her head, almost knocking the fire fairy off of her shoulder.

"EEP! Be more careful!" The small fairy squeaked into the pointed ear that she was now holding onto. "You're here because we want you to help train Metalicana-san's kid so that he can be tested." Ferr nodded in understanding, a small smile crawling to her lips.

"Sounds like fun." After looking back and forth across the crowd for a few seconds, "Um, who is it?" Now, Gajeel wasn't hiding or even out of sight. He was standing in the front line of the crowd! The dragons and Flam hung their heads at the iron fairy's inability to tell that the guy with all the piercings was the son of the iron dragon.

Metalicana let out a light sigh. "Gajeel, come over here." The grey haired dragon motioned for his son to stand next to him, which he did without hesitation. The iron fairy looked a little surprised, but it was quickly masqueraded by her sly smile that retook its place on her dark lips. "I would like you to meat Ferrum. She is the one who will train you for my test. Ferrum, this is Gajeel." The introduction seemed short, but it definitely wasn't over yet. The black haired fairy jumped up and hovered in the air by fluttering her blade-like wings. She quietly flew over to the iron dragon slayer, going up and over his shoulder and swirling around him in a serpentine manner, as if she was inspecting every part of him. She took great care to not go so fast that her fire friend fell off her shoulder or that she hit Gajeel with her tail or wings.

After she 'finished' her inspection, she flew back toward the other side of Metalicana with a smile on her face. "Looks promising. Mind if I test his strength?"

The iron dragon shrugged. "Just don't break anything." It took him a second before he realised he should have been more specific with his instructions. "That includes Gajeel, the other people here, and private property. **Understand?**" Though the last word sounded threatening, the iron fairy certainly didn't interpret it like that.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun. Well," She turned back to face the iron dragon slayer. "Are you ready?" Her sinister smile broke to reveal her bright teeth. "Or are you scared, Metalhead?" Ferr wasn't stupid. She knew the best way to win a fight was to make the other person lose their focus. And getting them angry was a great way to do that.

"Keh! Like you're one to talk about being a metalhead! Bring it on, Fairy!" Even though there was an air of playfulness in both voices, the Master, knowing that anything could happen while fighting, instructed the other guild members to move the citizens of Magnolia that had been draw by the commotion. Even the dragons moved back from the two iron users.

"As you wish, Human!" Just as her boots touched the ground after her wings stopped fluttering, Ferr bolted toward Gajeel in a full-out charge. Poor little Flam was forgotten in an instant and was holding onto the large fairy's necklace for dear life. Because the iron fairy was faster than the dragon slayer had assumed, he received a powerful kick to the chest, sending him into the stone wall of a town house. There had been a cart with bags in front of the wall. It was destroyed by Gajeel's body, creating a small cloud just large enough to make it impossible to see the iron dragon slayer. Ferr stood in the middle of the street and looked a little disappointed. "I thought that would be more interesting." She was just about to turn away to return to her dragon when…

_"Iron Dragon's Roar!"_ From the cloud of smoke, a cyclone of silver and grey shards of metal flew out, aimed right at the iron fairy. No one saw her move as the storm engulfed her, completely taking her out of sight. Not a single person dared to move in the silence as the plume of sparkling grey continued to swirl around.

_'That roar was slow. Why didn't Ferr get out of the way? Is she playing some kind of trick on us?'_ Igneel thought as he watched cloud slowly drift away. His magma eyes widened in horror. _'Oh no...'_

The fairy was still standing where she was before the attack, and had definitely been hit by it. She had turned so that was no longer facing Gajeel, like she was before the attack. Her wings weren't moving anymore, laying flat along her spine and her tail was coiled down by her feet. Her hands were clasped tightly against her chest, as if she was holding something she didn't want anyone to see. All around her back, the back of her legs, arms, and even her neck, shards of jagged metal stood out like spines and were surrounded by pools of blood. Some of them large enough to stream down toward the cobblestone street. Gajeel, who had staggered out of the wreckage and fallen to one knee, was covered in scratches and panting. He didn't even raise his head to look at the fairy. He could smell the blood anyway. Though he did glance up after hearing a small whisper. "Hey, Flam. You alright?"

The iron fairy pulled her hands away from her chest and opened them out in front of her, revealing the small fire fairy, completely unscathed. "Y-yeah…" She managed to get out, still shaken up from what happened. Once she realised remembered that there had been an attack, she jumped to her feet, created her wings, and floated around to look at Ferr's back. "But what about you?! Why didn't you dodge?" Flam almost looked angry at her iron using friend.

"If I tried to fly out of the way, you would've fallen off. The speed of the wind would have made it impossible for you to create your wings to fly away yourself." The iron fairy smiled and closed her eyes as she stretched her arms up over her head with her fingers interlaced. "And besides, this isn't all that bad." She turned on the heels of her boots to face Gajeel. "Well, kid. Ready for Round 2?" She took a few step forward, her dark boots causing ripples in the pool of blood that had gathered beneath her. Her grin had an evil accent underneath that made it look quite sinister. _"Iron Fairy's Blood Sword."_ An invisible force pulled the scarlet liquid off of the cobblestones and formed it into a ruby hilt in Ferr's right hand. Suddenly, the pieces of metal that were sticking out of her back, violently ripped themselves loose of the flesh they were dug into. One by one the pieces slowly formed a sword blade with dark red veins throughout the metal and fit perfectly into the handle the fairy was already holding.

Placing two hands on the grip and holding the blade in line with her eyes, pointed right at the iron dragon slayer, the fairy was ready to charge. "Here I come!" Not even using her wings, she sprinted forward, sword aimed right for Gajeel's face. For some reason, the fairy was even faster without flying and because part of the iron dragon slayer's chest was crushed from the kick, there was no way that he would get out of the way in time.

_'Damn...'_ He thought as he watched the tip of the sword come closer to his face with every long step made by the iron fairy. She had left her friend still floating in the air behind her and was now completely focused on running Gajeel through with her sword.

**"Enough!"** The scarlet tipped blade stopped millimeters from the dragon slayer's face. Metalicana's rough voice cut through the silence that had been created after the roar attack was released on the fairies. Ferr lowered her sword, shortly before jamming it into the ground between the cobblestones, an example of how sharp it actually was. She offered her hand to Gajeel, which he took and stood up, shortly before almost all of the members of Fairy Tail surrounded them.

"Here." Grandine said as she placed her hand on Gajeel's back, first causing him to tense, but once she started healing him, he relaxed. Wendy ran over to the iron fairy with her hands glowing with magic.

"Please let me heal you. You suffered severe wounds to the back." The fairy at first seemed surprised that the blue-haired girl had come up to her, but then smiled at her.

"Your kindness is wasted on me, I'm afraid. As you can see," She turned to show her back to the small girl. There wasn't a single sign that there had ever been wounds there. No blood, no tears in the fabric. "There is nothing for you to do." Wendy wanted to say something, to ask how her wounds had been healed so quickly, but the iron fairy walked away before she got the chance, not wanting to answer any questions.

"Good job. You managed to get a hit in against the feared Ferrum." The fire dragon told Gajeel, who looked a little shocked at hearing such praise, but said nothing, allowing the dragon to go on. "Though, it was Flam's fault." The little fairy of course, did not appreciate this comment and chased Igneel away from the iron dragon slayer with a stream of fire from her mouth. "Hey! Quit it!"

"Those two have almost no sense of maturity, but they still manage to be what they are, so I guess it's all right." Grandine said with a smile as she walked up to Gajeel. She had stopped healing his wounds once Wendy began, because there was no reason for her to heal Ferr. "How are your wounds?" She asked, dragging the iron dragon slayer away from his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. They're fine." He answered quickly, trying to not be suspicious. _'What did she mean; "What they are." A dragon and a fairy?'_ The air dragon could tell he was thinking about something, but decided to not pry any further.

"Are you alright, Gajeel?" Levy ran over to the iron dragon slayer, clutching Pantherlily close to her small chest. The exceed wanted to ask as well, but couldn't breathe because he was being squeezed too tightly. It took the dragon slayer a few moments to calm the girl down so that his friend didn't die of suffocation. It was quite the comical scene. A large man trying to save a cat from a little girl who had been on the verge of crying.

"So, Ferr," The large iron dragon loomed over the normal sized fairy. "Do you think you'll do it?"

The iron fairy cupped her chin with her hand as a way of showing that she was thinking. "Yeah, I think so. He has potential." A sly smile of pointed teeth slid open on Ferr's lips. "Plus, it'll be fun." Several people became worried for Gajeel's well-being at the last comment, but said nothing. "Oh yeah! Erza!" After she seized the attention of the armor mage, she yanked the sword she was using earlier out of the ground. It no longer glowed red, but the shimmering light that reflected off of it made it look as if it were alive. "Here." She said, holding the sword out to the armor mage. "This is the purest iron you'll find in Earthland. Use the same care for it as you do your armor." The iron fairy showed an earnest and kind smile.

"Thank you very much." Erza replied, bowing, honored by receiving such a gift by one of the fairies. When she took the sword in her hand, she thought. _'Wow, this is so light! How is that possible?'_ There was no time to ask her questions though.

"Well," Grandine said, turning her head to face Wendy. "Are you ready to meet Ventus? I promise he's not nearly as violent as those two." The little girl nodded, giggling at the dragon's promise.

Igneel and Flam had come back, both of them a little singed, but nothing particularly noticeable to the others in the crowd. When they heard Grandine speaking, the little fairy began to fly slower, as of to avoid coming back to where everyone else was. The fire dragon noticed and cupped his hand behind her in an attempt to keep her moving forward. "Don't worry. That all took place two hundred years ago." He words didn't seem to reassure the fairy, who looked at him with a worried face.

There wasn't any time to explain as the air dragon went to summon her fairy, first creating a tornado that was about ten feet tall in front of her. **_"I summon you! Emperor of the Air Fairies, Ventus!"_**

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**Well, I hope you enjoyed :) Chapter 9 is already written and proof-read, so it will probably be uploaded later tonight or tomorrow morning. Til next time.**


	9. Scroll-9

**Hello, everyone! It hasn't been that long, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!**

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People in the crowd covered their eyes so that they wouldn't be blinded by the pieces of debris that had been picked up by the winds of the tornado. Flam, even though she held onto Igneel's collar with all her might, her little form didn't have the strength to not be caught by the wind and blown away. Ferr was fast enough to jump up and catch her, but then she herself had to take refuge behind the iron dragon as the wind became even faster. All of a sudden, the wind stopped and the sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Where the tornado had been, there was now a man standing. He had a medium build and was quite muscular. His shoulder length hair shone like gold and his eyes were as bright a blue as the sky above them. He had no shirt, but he had a skirt like a Roman soldier, white fabric that barely reached his knees, held up by a wide leather belt studded with brass bolts. His wings and tail weren't anything like the fairies the people had seen before him. Angelic and covered with ivory feathers, his wings reached from slightly above his head to down near his knees. By his sandaled feet, a lion's tail barely touched the ground. When he noticed the air dragon standing in front of him, he fell to one knee and bowed his head. "My lady, Grandine-sama, it has been a long time." He smiled as he raised his head to look at the pink-haired dragon, who gestured for him to stand up.

"I have called you here to see if you would like to train Wendy so that she may pass my test. What do you say?" She asked as she smiled and stepped out of the way so that the fairy could see Wendy, who had hid behind Grandine out of shyness.

"Of course." He responded with a smile as he kneeled down in front of Wendy, taking one of her hands and holding it gently in his. "And you, Miss Wendy?" The little blue haired girl, lost for words, could only nod in response. "Excellent. Now," He stood up and looked back to Grandine. "When shall we start?" As soon as the fairy asked his question, whispers started flying throughout the crowd. No one knew when or even where the fairies were going to train the dragon slayers. Could they do it in Magnolia? Would they have to go far away?

"Well," Grandine cupped her chin with her hand. "I supposed sooner rather than later would probably be a good idea, but it's really up to you, Ferr, and Flam." No one noticed the air fairy's wing twitch at the mention of the fire fairy's name. "What do you two think?" Ferr stepped out from behind Metalicana as Flam jumped off of her hand and transformed into her larger form in a ball of fire.

"Personally, I think we should work in the land of the fairies. We won't get punished if we destroy anything in our own territory there." Ferr stated. "Plus, I've got to keep an eye on the mines under the mountains. Leave them alone for anything longer than a day and things start to go downhill." Gajeel nodded. The iron users would train in the land of the fairies.

"We probably want to go to the fairy's land as well. I don't want to explain anything if a town gets burned down or something." The members of the guild who knew Natsu's… impeccable reputation for causing property damage out on jobs agreed with the fire fairy. "Plus, I've got to be there in case one of the volcanoes erupts. Most of them are dormant, but a few of them are still active." She explained.

"Well, if the fire fairies are going to be messing around, we probably want to be here in Earthland." Ventus narrowed his eyes toward Flam. "Those volcanoes spew all kinds of nasty things into the air." The fire fairy ground her teeth together before snapping back at Ventus.

"I don't control where, when, or how the volcanoes erupt! My kingdom's job is to limit the damage they cause as much as possible! If you think you can do a better job, be my guest!" She shouted as she walked forward with her wings blazed brighter and her hands clenched into tight fists.

"Oh, so you admit that it's _your_ fault that two centuries ago, a volcano destroyed so much land and killed so many people." The air fairy smiled at the fire fairy's frustration.

"No, it was your fault! Not only did your fairies prevent us from going into your territory until it was too late to stop it, but they also refused to heal the lungs of those who were trying to help them!" The guild members started backing away from the fairies for either one of two reasons; A, the heat from Flam's anger was becoming unbearable, or B, they'd seen fairies fight dragon slayers with ease and didn't want to get caught up in a fight between two of them.

Ven took a few steps so that he was only inches from the angry fire fairy. "Remember the duty you were assigned, Empress. Your subjects died doing exactly what they were supposed to, fighting a hopeless battle against an unstoppable force." That was the last straw for Flam.

"YOU BASTARD!" Taking her right hand, the fire fairy coated it in red flame before sending it as a powerful punch right to the air fairy's jaw. The force of the strike caused Ven to stumble back a few steps before the smoke dissipated to reveal where the punch had landed, a large burn that had begun to bleed scarlet. The air fairy stood up straight and brushed his hand past his cheek, as if he was wiping away the burn, because after his hand passed, it wasn't there anymore.

"You always were quite the hothead." He stated with an amused smile on his face. Flam, seconds before she charged toward the air fairy, was stopped by Ferr, who put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't. He's not worth it." She cautioned her friend. Neither the iron fairy's land nor people were affected by the eruption of the volcano, but she did not want to watch a war where her mines would supply the weapons for both sides. The silence surrounding them seemed to be alive, ready to consume anyone who couldn't resist it.

"We should head back to the guild. It's getting late. We can figure this all out tomorrow." The air dragon suggested to the silence. No one said anything, but they all agreed without sound and started to walk back toward Fairy Tail.

The only sound that could be heard was the buzzing of Ferr's wings as she flew alongside Metalicana, glancing back at Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlily to make sure they didn't get left behind. Flam was walking next to Igneel, who had Natsu with Happy on his head on the other side. The fire dragon let out a light sigh. _'I can't believe they're still arguing about whose fault it was. It was a volcano! It wasn't anyone's fault!'_ He grimaced to himself. _'If I said that, I'd get killed by both of them.' _

"Hey, Flam." Happy turned on Natsu's head to face the fire fairy. "If you guys go to the land of fairies, will I be able to come?" The exceed asked the question as if he already knew the answer wasn't going to be what he wanted.

The red-headed fairy had an expression of pity on her face. "I'm sorry, Happy. It's not a particularly safe place to be, especially where we're going. I know Natsu wants you to come, but I don't want you to get hurt." She smiled sadly at the blue feline.

"Hey! Don't talk like I'm not here!" Natsu shouted. Right. Into. Igneel's. Ear.

"Natsu! Learn to control your volume!" The fire dragon muttered as he rubbed his now ringing ear. Grey, who was walking a few steps ahead of them, could be heard snickering. "It doesn't matter anyway, you still have to listen to Flam. She's the one who decides who goes and who doesn't."

The pinkette crossed his arms and looked up at his best friend with a disappointed face. "I wish you could come, Happy."

"Aye, me too." He responded as he slid off of Natsu's head and into his arms, ready for a hug, but not ready for his friend to leave. Because the ice mage had been listening to their entire conversation, he decided it was high time to put in his opinion.

"Don't worry, Happy. That flame brain is probably going to break something and get kicked out before you have time to be sad that he's gone." Even though it was meant as a nice gesture, the ice mage's comment was not well liked by the dragon slayer.

"What did you say, Ice Princess!? Hey, get back here!" Natsu shouted just before he started running after Grey, who was already a step ahead of him. Taking only a few steps on the cobblestone itself, he created a sheet of shimmering ice that led straight to Fairy Tail for him to slide on. Natsu, of course, wasn't expecting the solid ground in front of him to turn into a slippery slide that he couldn't get off of. "Whoa! Hey, slow down!" Many of the guild members who were walking back burst out laughing at the comical scene taking place. A fire mage sliding along a piece of ice with his friend in front of him, ice skating backwards to keep an eye on him as they moved along much faster than before. Every few feet or so, Grey had to make an adjustment to the track to keep Natsu from running into a tree or a building because he couldn't turn on his own.

"That looks like fun! Wait for me, Natsu!" Happy, after quickly removing his wings, landed down on the ice to slide with the two older boys. Ferrum, since she was already flying, sped up to be in line with Grey.

"Here, I'll keep an eye out so you don't run into anything." She said with a bright smile. It took Grey a second to figure out what she was talking about, the fact that he wasn't looking where he was going. "Turn Right!" She shouted shortly before landing sideways on one of the stone buildings to jump off to keep flying. Unfortunately, the turn was a bit too sharp and the warning a bit too late for the ice mage to change course easily. Instead of a nice smooth turn being created, ice rode up to the second story of the build, covering its entire front in a layer of crystalline snow.

"Give me an earlier warning next time!" The raven haired mage yelled to the iron fairy.

"Insolent human! You should be thankful I'm helping you!" She shouted in response before turning her head back to look at where they were headed, a sight that caused her to widen her eyes in horror. _"STOP!"_ She screamed at the top of her lungs right before she brought her arms up to cover her face. Grey didn't even get the chance to turn around before they crashed into the wooden doors at the entrance of Fairy Tail.

Grey hit the doors right in the center with enough force to slam them open with a loud BAM! and continued to move forward on his trail of ice. About halfway through the guildhall, he stopped making the ice, but that sent him off the floor and rammed his back into the bottom of the bar. After hitting the wood, Grey groaned and bent forward, interlacing his fingers around the back of his head.

Ferrum was the next person to come through the doors, but didn't hit them, so she was still flying at the same speed she was when she was next to Grey. With no way to stop her momentum, the iron fairy continued until she ran her side into the balcony of the second floor, causing her to crumple down onto the top of the bar.

And finally, it was Natsu's turn to come through the doors. Happy had caught up to him at some point and was now being held tightly to the dragon slayer's chest. Because the two of them were last and they were looking where they were going, Happy had time to make his wings and get off of the ice slide. He flew himself and Natsu to a part of the guild that wasn't covered in ice. "How about that! I'm the winner!"

"Oh, shut up, Natsu." Grey grumbled, still holding the back of his head from where it hit the wood. The guild was completely empty except for the table and chairs that were still in their original spots. Well, it wasn't going to stay empty for very long.

"Natsu! Grey! Are you guys alright?" Lucy called through the open doors of the guild, shortly before slipping and falling on her butt. "Ouch!" She was followed by the rest of the group who had gone to watch the summoning of the fairies, some of them having difficulty on the now icy road. "Can't you guys do anything without breaking something?" She yelled at them, not really expecting to get an answer.

The Master walked by the celestial mage, chuckling. "I'm afraid not. It just wouldn't be Fairy Tail if nothing was broken every once in a while." His smiling face took on some dark qualities. "However, actions have consequences. Erza!" He turned to face the armor mage as she walking in the guild with no difficulty whatsoever. "You may decide their punishment. Everyone else! Feel free to party!" The crowd roared with cheers before rushing into the guild.

The older two of the Take-Over mages went behind the counter and started to serve drinks to the customers who were swarming everywhere. Metalicana walked over to the bar where Ferrum was laying face down. "Hey, time to get up sleepyhead." He said as he shook her shoulders in an attempt to rouse the fairy. Not satisfied with the results of this method, the iron dragon wrapped one of his arms around the fairy's waist, being careful to not cut himself on either her tail or her wings, and lifted her up on his shoulder. It was then that he noticed the red mark along her side where she ran into the balcony. "Jeez, learn to slow down, will you?"

"Mhm." She responded quietly while nodding her head slightly. Her dark eyes opened only for a moment to look at the man who was carrying her. "Sorry, too much fun." She muttered before closing her eyes again. All of a sudden, it was as if she was made of thousands of tiny metallic beads that all broke apart at that one moment. A waterfall of silver that disappeared inches before it touched the floor. What was left in the iron dragon's hand was a little fairy, no more than a foot tall with little pieces of black cloth, the same color as her hair, covering her top and bottom. Her wings were still the same kind as her larger form, but her tail and boots were no longer there. She appeared to be asleep, curled up into a little ball.

"Went and tired yourself out, uh?" He asked with a warm smile. Metalicana shook his head before carrying the little fairy over to the table where the rest of the dragons and fairies had gathered. "Either of you wanna take Ferr home? I'm afraid she won't remember where she is when she wakes up and might attack someone."

"I'll do it." Ventus stood up from his seat near the edge of the table. He gently took the small form of the iron fairy into his hand and beat his strong wings to create a cloud of dust, which when it dissipated, revealed that the air fairy was no longer there.

"Now what should we do?" The iron dragon asked as he sat down in the now vacant seat. He didn't care who answered, as long as there was one.

"I guess we'll just wait till tomorrow. I don't see what other choice we have. It's too late to leave now." Grandine responded as she looked out the window at the glowing orange sun. _'Tomorrow.'_

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**Well, I hope you enjoy Chapter 9. Yeah, I know that Ven doesn't seem to be a very nice person, I not sure why I did that, I guess there always has to be the jerk of the group. I wrote the ice sliding scene on a whim, I made it up on the spot. Til next time!**

**(I didn't have fun doing this because the copy and paste on my computer _stopped working._ It's a miracle I didn't go insane.)**


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